I’m specifically looking for cordless. I have an old 10A B&D Woodhawk that’s been on loan from my dad. It’s in great shape, but underpowered, and most annoying of all it’s corded. I know a corded one would be cheaper, lighter, and more powerful but I’m willing to go cordless for the flexibility it affords.
Thanks Fred, but those are all way overkill for my DIY needs. The XR and FUEL lines seem to hit the sweet spot for me.
Update: So the kit came in! I picked up a few Milwuakee kits, but even with the best deals I can find round the web the equivalent set in red would cost more than $800! I definitely like the red saw more. The shoe is clearly much higher quality. But I can’t justify the price difference, so DeWalt it is!
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Congrats! That set looks awesome!
FYI, the kit actually comes in two boxes (even though it’s listed as one in HD’s system). It’s the 6-tool DCK694P2 (list price $799) and the angle grinder DCG413B (list price $125 bare tool).
Home depot lists the kit value @ $968, but the prices above add up to $924 and they don’t even seem to sell the grinder by itself. It must have an MSRP of $169 officially.
Johnny,
I started off with the 4 tool 20V DeWalt kit 4 or 5 years ago (drill, impact, sawzall, flashlight) and have had no issues with them. They have gone through a lot on construction sites but performed very well. I picked up additional 4.0 amp batteries too (can never have enough batteries). I also more recently bought the DeWalt Flexvolt circular saw with 2 60V batteries and a charger on Amazon Prime Day (for $280!!!) and I have to say, that thing is a beast! It will run all day while doing framing. The best part is that the 60V batteries are compatible with 20V systems. Can’t go wrong with any of the systems but I have had considerable success with DeWalt so far.
The new Makita 36v rear handle saw is a beast!! Tremendous power, well balanced and smooth cuts
Great choice. The guys over at Pro Tools just tackled the question of which brand.
https://www.protoolreviews.com/news/who-makes-the-best-tools/32628/
Of course you all know I am proudly biased towards Makita!! 
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I would go for Milwaukee.
I recently jumped from 18V Ni-Cd Dewalt tools to 20V dewalt tools. The main reason was that my 2013 Dewalt drill’s clutch AND speed selector switch broke recently with only a few hours of total use.
I started by getting Dewalt’s new 20v brushless drill. These no longer come in hard box cases but eh that was okay. However I had a hard time finding a 20v Dewalt Circular saw who’s shoe was not warped or misaligned from the factory. Moreover the design was a 99% copy of their 18V circular saw that I have had for 8 years. No innovation at all.
So I took a chance on 12v Milwaukee circular saw and WOW that thing is amazing even with the smaller 5.5" blade. built in LED light, but more importantly a perfectly machined shoe that is perfectly aligned out of the box. The build quality of the Milwaukee circular saw (12v fuel version) just BLEW Dewalt out of the water.
I have owned Dewalt, Bosch and Ryobi tools for over 10 years. The new Ryobi tools are really well built compared to their 2007 counterparts, whereas the 2017 Dewalts are built more cheaply compared to their 2007 Dewalt. My 2005 Dewalt 18v drill can not only drill holes but it would serve as a decent sledgehammer in a pinch. 
The Milwaukee tools bring me the same smile I used to get with Dewalt tools. Works every time.
The other thing is Milwaukee has a crazy amount of options in both 18v and 12v models so I can just keep expanding forever and ever.
If you are ONLY going to do rough work then Dewalt is fine. I build furniture so there was no way I could use the Dewalt Circular saw.
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Thanks for the input gafotiby! I actually have the DeWalt combo, Ridgid LE combo, and Milwaukee saw still in my garage.
You’re right about the shoe on the Milwaukee, it’s beautiful. The DeWalt is a poorly blanked sheet of aluminum, the edges are even a bit rough! I’ve been going back and forth about this decision for two weeks now. Every comparison review I read says that the performance of these 3 brands is very comparable. The Fuel’s win the top spot for the most part, DeWalts close behind, and Ridgid’s tend to have good performance for the value they offer.
Even though I prefer the Milwaukee saw, I’m leaning toward keeping the DeWalt kit. It’s a great value and negates Ridgid’s price competition (although the LSA is still tempting). After going to a few stores I also prefer the DeWalt ergonomics. I think a number of the M18 tools aren’t as comfortable (oscillating tool is a great example). I’ve been less than impressed with a few design choices uncovered in AvE’s teardowns of the red and yellow stuff, but that’s to be expected I guess.
My subconscious definitely draws me to the Milwaukee (I love the red and have the Milwaukee tool chest), but the Ridgid LE combo tools actually look really cool. The black with anodized orange? Badass. Ridgid’s saw has a nice looking shoe too.
I’d consider myself an avid DIY’er. I like to fix/build stuff and I’ve got a good amount of experience. In looking at the full breadth of all 3 lineups honestly the Ridgid probably hits the most. I don’t see myself ever needing much of the specialized trade tools that Mil/DeW offer. I do a lot of my own car work, so M12 tempts me but keeping the DeWalt doesn’t preclude me from picking up the M12 platform too. So that’s where I’m at. Which is to say I’m still a bit undecided…
I’d stick with the DeWalt. You might consider returning just the circular if HD will let you since the kit is no longer in stock, saying it has an issue with the shoe. In my distant past experience, they were able to give store credit for the lowest recent price of the tool only when I had to return a part of a combo they no longer had in stock. They would have just swapped it, but didn’t have any of the bare tool in stock either, so that might also be an option for you. The other option might be to contact DeWalt about the problem, and see what they want to do for you to make it right.
As mentioned and as you found, a lot of people prefer DeWalt as more comfortable than Milwaukee. And for the base tools, the deal you got is as good as or better than any Milwaukee deal that comes to recent memory. You’ll still get just about anything you want to expand to with DeWalt, particularly as the years go on. Like this year we saw DeWalt pick up a lot of electrical and plumbing, for example. Milwaukee will hopefully pick up the compressor, maybe a table saw, and some innovations/improvements on things dewalt is doing better (the OMT does come to mind for me too). The specialty pieces continue to blur.
Also as you mention, you aren’t precluded from expanding into M12 (or Makita’s 12V lineup) if you want, and won’t have too much overlap. For example, the M12 circular even for a DIYer is kind of a different ballpark from any 18V saw in my view. Your dewalt can cut bevels through 2x lumber the M12 can’t, whether for want of power or blade size. But the M12 is an amazingly portable saw for smaller or specific jobs, where the 6.5 or 7.25 is overkill. Particularly overhead or vertical cuts, anything in place where you have to lift the saw around and hold it, the lightness of the M12 is amazing comparatively. The M12 jigsaw, although not brushless or orbital, is a pretty powerful tool, and barrel grip instead of D handle. My strong point on Milwaukee was lighting, and M12 even has great options, with the spotlight, lantern, and rover flood. The M12 soldering iron is super awesome, just got that today and already was putting it to good use. The M12 little Bluetooth speaker is even pretty darn good for its size.
Bottom line I think you’ll be happy with the dewalt, particularly for the value, so don’t lose any sleep over debating on Milwaukee. Each line has things they do better, and they’ll change what those are from time to time, so a disadvantage in one is made up for a disadvantage elsewhere in the other. I’m a Milwaukee guy, and having used plenty of DeWalt tools as well over the years, if I was starting a fresh kit, I wouldn’t have hesitated on that dewalt deal. Great tools, great price.
Some extra $0.02 on getting into M12 since I was thinking about that now, if you already have an 18V drill and impact type base and don’t want to repeat it…
A deal commonly comes up for the Bluetooth speaker for $79 instead of $69, but including a charger and 2Ah battery. If you wanted a power-tool-battery-based Bluetooth speaker anyway, that gets you the basics of the system, theoretically from there you could add whatever bare tools you want. Right now, Home Depot has a deal where you buy the lantern or spotlight (or a few other tools, the lantern and spotlight are the best if you ask me) and get a free 3Ah XC battery. (I’ll also note you can’t get the 3Ah compact or 6Ah batts in kits right now, AFAIK. So the 3Ah XC batteries, although old and pretty cheap value wise now, are still better than the 2 Ah, or if you want the larger pack to stand the tool on). You could also get a second charger and 4Ah battery by going for the fuel hackzall or fuel circular saw kits, both of which also currently come with a free tool (the hackzall is the better value over bare tool by far, $139 bare $169 kit vs $149 bare and $229 kit for the circular). A lot of kits, particularly non-fuel tools, still come with the 1.5Ah batteries I believe, like the jigsaw, non-fuel Hackzall, right angle drill and impact, non-fuel ratchets, etc. Those tools make more sense to get bare, and use the extra money to buy nicer batteries if you so need. But for the DIYer, you don’t need a plethora of batteries, so the XC kits or one of the free deals make the most sense.
The free stapler finally showed up as a free tool combo with the fuel hackzall or fuel circular as well, I know some people have had their eye on that.
What I would get to expand on what you have, assuming you have pruning tasks or similar to justify a hackzall in addition to the XR recip:
M12 BT speaker, with 1 2Ah battery and charger - $79
M12 lantern with free 3Ah XC battery - $59
$138 gets you two batteries, a charger, and a light and a lantern. Not quite as good as the $99 drill + impact kits, but I’d argue more useful.
Add M12 Fuel Hackzall, includes 1 4Ah battery and charger, plus a free jig saw - $169
~310 and you have a 4 tool kit, hackzall, jig saw, speaker, and light, with three batteries and two chargers.
Goes to show how cheap it is to put in your most common tools, the drill and impact driver, vs. letting people get things other than those :).
If you want the circular, sub it for the hackzall, or add it on with a free rover light or stapler (great for crafts and not smart for Christmas lights, but people do it anyway). Watch out for deals like they’re having on the lantern and spotlight, those are already comparatively cheap, you’ll only get them as free to something else, getting something free with them is almost unheard of. Plus you’ll be in a good place to expand with bare tools, maybe pick up the newest 3Ah compact batteries separately.
Throw some of those in Acme too and a few let the 20 off $100 Milwaukee deal still work, so you can increase the value even more. But not all the free accompaniments are available there, so YMMV depending on what you’d choose. The promo code does work on the hackzall kit with the free rover light when I just tried (stapler and jig saw are not available at acme on the deal it seems), so I’d guess it would work on the other things as well. For some order padding for the speaker in a second order to get over $100, I might suggest the Milwaukee mega sawzall kit, which is down to $40 for 32 blades on Acme.
Anyway, I know you didn’t ask, but maybe some useful tidbits in there for other people that may be reading.
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I used to think that I would have to stick to a single brand. And I had a very strong loyalty to the Dewalt brand because I had purchased their old 18V drill over 10 years ago when they used to build to a much much higher standard.
But Dewalt’s quality is not what it used to be. 
What I ended up doing was investing in multiple brands.
There are some particular tools that are just waaaaay better with certain brands.
Ultimately, it was (for me) cheaper to buy into 3 brands rather than buy all the tools in one brand. I did take advantage of sales and bundle deals, free battery deals, etc.
Here’s what I have:
- Dewalt 20v drill (all the brands make good drills, this is just what I bought.)
- Dewalt 20v impact (all the brands make good impacts, this is just what I bought.)
- Dewalt 20v blower (all the brands make one, this is just what I bought.)
- Milwaukee 12v fuel driver (basically like an impact driver but without the impact mechanism. It takes 1/4 bits and has a clutch like a drill)
- Milwaukee 12v LED lantern/flood light (unique rotating LED setup, more versatile than dewalt’s version. )
- Roybi 18v tire inflator (nobody else makes one)
- Roybi 18v portable vacuum (waaaay cheaper than milwaukee and 1000% quieter than Dewalt’s)
- Milwaukee 12v fuel circular saw (Okay this one is more expensive than any Roybi saw and most Dewalt saws BUT it is extremely compact and cuts perfectly straight edges every time unlike Dewalt’s misaligned shoe)
On my wish list:
Milwaukee M12 soldering iron, the other companies do not make any.
Roybi cordless belt sander. Rigid is the only other company that makes one.
Milwaukee M12 jigsaw OR dewalt 20v jigsaw (whichever is on sale)
When my tools were 100% dewalt 18v, I had to keep about 6 Dewalt batteries around to have a battery inside every tool and have spares.
Now I have more than doubled the number of tools I use but only 9 batteries total (4 dewalt, 4 milwaukee, 1 roybi). The total cost is really not higher than my original Dewalt investment but I now have the best tools from each brand. Home Depot frequently has a deal for Milwaukee tools where they give you an extra battery for free.
DeWalt actually offers a few screwdrivers without impact action–the drill-like 12v Max and three versions of the 8v Max gyroscopic driver. I love both (having two of the rotating 8v and one 12v), but you probably made the right choice with M12. DeWalt’s lower voltage systems seem to be lethargic at best and dead at worst.
That’s right I forgot about the gyroscopic driver.
I have the Milwaukee M12 Fuel screwdriver kit (2402-22). It drives perfectly torqued screws for all my kreg jig projects. Even with the included 2Ah battery I can build a few pieces of furniture between charges. Plus I noticed I can drive 3 inch deck screws as long as I can keep my wrist straight against the torque. That is normally a job for Impact drivers but the M12 is just so compact.
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How are you liking that DeWalt kit so far? I have mostly DeWalt, but use my M18 Fuel circular and reciprocating saws more than their yellow brethren.
I’ve been super happy with it. I’ve been able to start a few projects but I’ve got two very small kids, so I only get to work in 2-hour chunks at best. I’ve been very happy with the circular saw, and it’s seen the most use. Primarily been ripping paneling for a board & batten project so pretty light duty. I’ve also used the driver, OMT, and light. The batteries seem to charge quickly and hold their charge well.
I ended up spending quite a bit over the holidays on new DeWalt power tools. Shortly after getting this kit, HD had the 20v jigsaw on a one-day deal. Then I even jumped on the flexvolt miter saw deal at the end of the year and picked up the non-sliding version!
I’m looking forward to a number of projects over the next year that will give me a chance to put these to use.
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DeWalt can be addicting. I have the FlexVolt table saw and sliding FlexVolt miter saw, along with two 20v miter saws and a bunch of other stuff. If you ever have a decent sized drywall project, the screwgun with collated screw attachment and the cutout tool are nice!
Glad you’re enjoying your purchase! Awesome you’ve been able to use the tools, and even expand already!
I jumped semi-unwillingly on the DeWalt batterywagon at the end of last year. The intro item was the FlexVolt compressor because I’m tired of waiting for Milwaukee’s version. I love it, haven’t had problems with it holding air as long as I turn the regulator off. I use it up in the apartment to avoid hauling the larger 6gal pancake up from the detached garage unit, it’s seen use airbrushing models, running a nailer now and then when the cordless ones are elsewhere or inconvenient, and primarily just blowing things off/out like computers, vacuum filters, tools after projects, etc. I have cats so somehow get dust and cat hair everywhere, particularly in the computer intake fan filters. At least once a week or more often now I’m using it for something, and it’s been fantastic. Cordless is such a convenience when I going from the living room HTPC to the office computer to blowing out a pleated vacuum filter just outside. Plus just using it instead of canned air, it’s so easy to haul out and is always ready, no running cords or long hoses, I put a collapsible hose on it that lives on it with a blowgun, and just carry to wherever I need it. It’s quiet comparatively, which is a plus being in an apartment, and fills and refills pretty quickly for being a tiny cordless job. Hurry up Milwaukee on yours, though honestly I’m not sure I’d switch, now that I’m bought further in to the FlexVolt stuff so the compressor isn’t a one-off battery line tool for me anymore.
The second one was the FlexVolt miter, non sliding version, same as you. I strongly debated the slider, but have never really extremely needed one in as long as I’ve been using miter saws. For the super rare case i could maybe use one, I’ll just use a circular instead, that’s always been good enough for my not-cabinetmaking work. I think it turned into I could either get the non-slider with two batteries and plug adaptor, or the slider with no batteries but with the plug adapter for the same price, and the slider with the batteries too for $100 more. The $100 wasn’t worth it for the sliding for me when realistically I’d probably rarely/never use it, not to mention the increased weight and size and potential slop introduction way down the road. And in either case I needed batteries, which I can also use with the compressor!
Why FlexVolt instead of just a plain plug in model? Plugging in a miter saw in an apartment is sketchy business, they’ve got the wiring so all over the place that I’d probably plug it in on a wall outlet only to find that it’s shared with the lights and blows that breaker. Or, most of the other plugs that aren’t in the office or bedroom are on one of the GFCI’d kitchen plug circuits for some reason, and the Ridgid and Bosch saws I’ve used before would trip the GFCI excessively often. Just easier to be able to use batteries for when I need a miter saw for a project. Even for using it out in the garage, where I can’t pull that much power or risk tripping the entire garage building if someone else opens their garage door. Then I have to have a conversation with my friends on maintenance about why I’m plugging things in in the garage, most of all high-draw power tools, in an apartment complex no less. I’ve already gotten some good use out of the FlexVolt miter saw, and for things I’d previously have just done on the circular instead of dealing with all that, so exceptionally pleased with that purchase.
I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised with the FlexVolt stuff. I liked many of DeWalt’s 20V tools, and loved some, even though I ultimately have Milwaukee as my main tool line (because of their lighting mostly), but I’ve been skeptical of FlexVolt since it’s launch. It all boils down to capacity. Yes I can get slightly more efficiency and use smaller wire by running higher voltage and lower current. But by how much? Why not just go to two series packs at that point. Or keep beefing up the tried and true and ubiquitous 18V platform even more, I can find some 4 gauge cable suppliers somewhere for the power… Milwaukee packs the same capacity into their 9Ah packs, so meh. Using two of them instead of one seems to be the main difference, for the miter at least. I tried the Milwaukee 10” miter after it came out, and it was probably the first Milwaukee tool I had second thoughts about wanting after trying it. Even with the 9Ah packs, there were some cuts that it wasn’t as buttery as i had expected, though at the time I chalked it up to being a “new technology for Milwaukee” cordless miter saw. It still blew any of the ryobi cordless miter saws out of the water. The FlexVolt when I tried it hurriedly before jumping on the deal, didn’t show the same issues, likely because it has double the power capacity of the Milwaukee, if you use 5Ah/6Ahx2 and 9Ah/9Ahx2 as comparison. Being based on DeWalt’s tried and true miter saw know-how, coupled with my better-than-expected compressor experience, it was an easy decision. Since getting it, I’ve been continually impressed with it, and put it up right with dewalt’s corded saws, and even my personal favorite Bosch saws. I’m still debating getting the 7.5” Milwaukee miter one day (if it goes on a really really good deal now that I have the FlexVolt one) for portability, or to fit with a non-ferrous metal blade so I can cut aluminum on something other than the “good” saw. I love the Milwaukee circular and sawzall and their drills and everything else I have, so still wouldn’t even consider giving up my main 18V line to DeWalt, but taking FlexVolt as a separate line with separate tools, they’re beating Milwaukee on the miter, and beat them to market at least with the compressor. I can’t really see Milwaukee coming out with anything that would knock the socks off the FlexVolt compressor either. Chalk me up for battery line number 7.
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Well done!
Your really can’t go wrong with any brand. Pick the color you want to look for in the grass when you drop it is my philosophy. It sounds like you’re on the path to continue to find excuses to buy new tools. In 5 years you’ll probably have several battery platforms and a tool for everything. You may want to start deciding what kind of tool storage you’ll be collecting. TSTAK, L-BOXX, Tanos… Or you might even end up with $everal different ones just like your tool collection. I’m speaking from experience here, lol.
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Whether you go Red, Yellow, Blue, Orange, Teal, they are all competitive and all have the basic cordless tools a professional or DIY’er would need. I went Blue because of the german reputation of making reliable tools that last and so far after 3 years all are still working as good as new. Good luck with what you end up deciding.
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